Testing your memory

Jim McDougall · 13th December 2013, 07:02 PM

Hi Nando,
I think I recall that one, and it does seem that the French officers did often favor extreme 'exotica' in many cases with their sabres. I think a lot of this was during the flamboyance of the Napoleonic period and carrying over from their earlier attraction to Oriental and exotic forces implemented into auxiliary troops in their ranks. Im thinking of the pandours and then of course the Ottoman and Mamluk influences later.

In these times military fashion was de riguer and it seems the colorful uniforms and flamboyant arms were of profound importance. I believe after the campaign in Egypt that the French were probably first to adopt the Mamluk type sabres, and the Americans (well established allies with France) soon followed, then by the British.

The turn of the century was also a time of considerable experimentation and innovation with swords, and as Le Marchant sought developing regulation patterns he considered various foreign forms before arriving at the M1796 light cavalry sabre with heavy hatchet point blade.

I had a stirrup hilt sabre with unusual cant to its hilt and a dramatically curved blade (as you describe nearly ridiculous) a sharp point and a pronounced pipe back rod on the back of the blade. This I believed to be British around late 1790s and thought that it might be one of those prototypes (?) reflecting the hybridization of European rod type back and the curvature and point of a shamshir.
I would here note that the British M1803 regulation hilt (lionhead) for infantry and flank company officers often had extremely curved blades.

In my opinion most of these extremes were more toward the constant fashion competition among officers, and while seemingly rather curious they were quite valid at the time.

Though admittedly rambling here and not much help with the question I wanted to just add some salient notes pertaining to these kinds of blades for the readers and as always, look forward to their input.

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13th December 2013, 07:02 PM	#4
Jim McDougall Arms Historian Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Route 66 Posts: 10,192	Hi Nando, I think I recall that one, and it does seem that the French officers did often favor extreme 'exotica' in many cases with their sabres. I think a lot of this was during the flamboyance of the Napoleonic period and carrying over from their earlier attraction to Oriental and exotic forces implemented into auxiliary troops in their ranks. Im thinking of the pandours and then of course the Ottoman and Mamluk influences later. In these times military fashion was de riguer and it seems the colorful uniforms and flamboyant arms were of profound importance. I believe after the campaign in Egypt that the French were probably first to adopt the Mamluk type sabres, and the Americans (well established allies with France) soon followed, then by the British. The turn of the century was also a time of considerable experimentation and innovation with swords, and as Le Marchant sought developing regulation patterns he considered various foreign forms before arriving at the M1796 light cavalry sabre with heavy hatchet point blade. I had a stirrup hilt sabre with unusual cant to its hilt and a dramatically curved blade (as you describe nearly ridiculous) a sharp point and a pronounced pipe back rod on the back of the blade. This I believed to be British around late 1790s and thought that it might be one of those prototypes (?) reflecting the hybridization of European rod type back and the curvature and point of a shamshir. I would here note that the British M1803 regulation hilt (lionhead) for infantry and flank company officers often had extremely curved blades. In my opinion most of these extremes were more toward the constant fashion competition among officers, and while seemingly rather curious they were quite valid at the time. Though admittedly rambling here and not much help with the question I wanted to just add some salient notes pertaining to these kinds of blades for the readers and as always, look forward to their input.